Silo or Box for Storage or Transportation of Empty Plastic Bottles

ABSTRACT

The invention finds application in the field of systems for storage of empty plastic bottles, which systems may be either storage silos in a bottle filling plant or boxes for transportation from a bottle manufacturing plant to a bottle filling plant. More particularly, according to the invention, strips or ribbons are placed in the silo or box which has a square or rectangular section, and stretched from one wall to the opposite wall, to form a plurality of grids lying on parallel horizontal planes, which have the function of preventing any excessive pressure from being exerted on the lower layers of the column of bottles, thence any bottle crushing. In accordance with the invention these strips are inserted with their bottom side inclined with respect to the horizontal plane of the longitudinal axis of the strip. The inclination angle a is preferably of 20 to 35°.

This invention relates to a silo or box for storage or transportation ofempty plastic bottles.

As is known, in plastic bottle filling processes, plastic bottles areblow molded from preforms or parisons.

After molding, the bottles may be conveyed either directly to thefilling lines or to storage silos, wherefrom they are withdrawn to betransferred to the filling lines with the help of unscramblers, whichreceive bulk bottles and arrange them in rows.

In many cases, bottles are manufactured in factories that arespecialized in the manufacture of plastic items and then shipped inshipping boxes of vehicles, in bulk storage arrangement, to the bottlefilling factories.

The storage silos or boxes are made up of parallelepipeds of square orrectangular cross section, which are open at their tops and closed attheir bottom by movable walls for bottle discharge.

Both in storage silos and in bottle shipping boxes, strips or ribbonsare hooked to the side walls in such arrangement as to form a pluralityof parallel plane grids.

In prior art, these strips or ribbons are placed over a plane surface.

Prior art drawbacks are associated to the plane arrangement of strips,which form bridges, whereby bottles do not fall during unloading of thebox or silo after removal of the bottom wall.

The object of this invention is to obviate the above drawbacks andparticularly facilitate bottle fall after removal of the bottom wall.

The advantages achieved by using the box or silo of the presentinvention consist in that it prevents the formation of bridges whichhinder the fall of bottles, as well as bottle crushing duringtransportation or storage.

These objects and advantages are achieved by a silo or box for storageor transportation of empty plastic bottles of this invention, which ischaracterized by the annexed claims.

Characteristics and advantages will be more apparent from the followingdescription of a few embodiments, which are shown by way of example andwithout limitation in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a box of rectangular section taken from theshorter side;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the box of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the inclination of a ribbon or strip and the attachmentthereof to the box structure;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a bottle storage silo of square section;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the silo of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows the inclination of the ribbon or strip and the attachmentthereof to the silo structure;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are top views of the respective arrangements of belts overtwo adjacent planes;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the strip arrangement in a troncopyramidaldischarge hopper.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 1 designates a quadrangular silo orbox for storage or transportation of empty plastic bottles, which iscomposed of 4 posts 1 a at the vertices of the quadrangular section ofthe silo 1 and a plurality of profiles 1 b placed transverse to saidposts 1 a and equally spaced to generate a strong and light-weightstructure.

The silo 1 thus obtained is peripherally closed by plastic walls orsheets for retaining empty bottles.

As further shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the lower portion of the silo 1 maybe a discharge hopper having a removable bottom wall to allow thebottles to fall by gravity.

Alternatively, the lower portion may be only closed by a sliding panel,to be inserted in corresponding guides, attached to the posts 1 a.

Still from FIGS. 4 and 5, the covering sheet is shown to have windows 10of transparent material to allow inspection within the silo 1 by theoperator in charge of unloading and/or transportation.

The profiles 1 b form a given number of layers or planes, which numberdepends on the size of the silo 1; referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a seriesof strips 3 or ribbons are stretched between one profile 1 b and thecorresponding opposite profile, and the same is repeated for theprofiles 1 b perpendicular thereto, so that the strips 3 are in crossedrelationship to form a wide mesh grid.

By repeating the above process at all planes, a plurality of grids isfinally provided, lying on parallel horizontal planes, which have thefunction of preventing any excessive pressure from being exerted on thelower layers of any column of bottles, thence any bottle crushing.

As further shown by FIGS. 7 and 8, the strips 3 are alternated betweenthe various layers or planes formed by the profiles 1 b , to create amisaligned arrangement of grids, which are offset from the bottlefalling direction, thereby preventing the underlying layers from beingcrushed.

The number of strips 3 may also change depending on the size of emptybottles.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, each strip 3 is shown to be inclined withrespect to the horizontal plane defined by the four coplanar profiles 1b.

In other words, each strip 3 is placed with its bottom side (the longerside being stretched between the two profiles 1B) inclined with respectto the horizontal plane of the longitudinal Laxis of the strip 3.

Preferably, the inclination angle a of the strips 3 is of 20 to 35°.

Still from FIGS. 3 and 6, two examples of attachment of the strips 3 areshown: in the first example (FIG. 3), two inclined flaps 4 are clampedagainst the inner and outer sides of the profile 1 b respectively, usingtwo screws 5; the strip 3 will be held between the inner flaps of thetwo opposite profiles 1 b.

The other example (FIG. 6) shows a substantially identical attachmentarrangement, except that a plate is provided instead of the outer flapof each profile, which is secured to the profile 1 b using an additionalscrew 7; on the inner side, there is still a strip supporting flap 4.

The silo 1 so formed can support a part of the weight of the columns ofempty bottles on the strips 3 and allows complete unloading of the silo1 itself when the bottom sliding panel is opened.

As mentioned above, the lower portion of the silo 1 may consist of atroncopyramidal discharge hopper (see FIG. 4); FIG. 9 shows thearrangement of the strips 3 in such hopper, shorter and fewer stripsbeing provided, if any, due to the reduced section of the hopper.

The above strip attachment arrangement between the profiles 1 b may besusceptible of changes, without departure from the scope of theinvention, as claimed below.

Reference was made in the example to a silo 1 having profiles 1 b ,because this reduces the weight of the silo 1; however, if four solidwalls are used instead of the profiles 1 b , the strips 3 will besecured and stretched between opposite walls and still inclined asdescribed above.

Once again, the attachment thereof may be achieved using techniquesknown to those skilled in the art.

1. A silo or box (1) for storage or transportation of empty plasticbottles, of the type comprising strips (3) or ribbons, stretched betweena wall or a profile (1 b) and the opposite wall or profile, to form aplurality of grids, lying on parallel horizontal planes, and to therebyprevent any excessive pressure from being exerted on the lower layers ofany column of bottles contained therein, characterized in that thestrips (3) are placed with their bottom sides inclined with respect tothe horizontal plane of the longitudinal axis of the strip (3).
 2. Asilo or box (1) for storage or transportation of empty plastic bottlesas claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the different numbers ofstrips (3) are provided over different planes, to thereby create amisaligned arrangement of grids, offset from the bottle fallingdirection.
 3. A silo or box (1) for storage or transportation of emptyplastic bottles as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that theinclination angle a of the strips is preferably of 20 to 35°.
 4. A siloor box (1) for storage or transportation of empty plastic bottles asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that strips (3) are also providedin grid arrangement on the troncopyramidal discharge hopper, if any;said strips (3) being shorter and fewer than the strips (3) on the upperplanes of the silo (1).